Eugene Regan (Fine Gael)

However, I wish to raise one point regarding a statement made by my constituency colleague, the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Hanafin, who stated that Ministers must be paid well in order that they will not be susceptible to outside interference. I was surprised and disturbed by this statement because we have been assured on many occasions that the bad old days of Fianna Fáil corruption were gone. However, the Minister was speaking in a current context and she raised the issue of outside interference. What is the objective basis of her statement?Are there cases where Ministers were approached with suggestions of offers of moneys to corrupt decisions?

It is important to know what gave rise to this comment. The Minister, Deputy Hanafin, is saying, in reality, that Fianna Fáil Ministers must be paid in order not to accept bribes. I question whether that is official party policy or official Government policy.